This invention relates to a water bed with a wave generation and control mechanism.
Numerous devices have been developed over the years for use with a water bed wherein the water-enclosing mattress is caused to undulate for therapeutic, wake-up alarm or other reasons. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,126 entitled "Water Bed Wave Generator". In that patent, a horizontal pad rests on the top surface of the mattress midway of its length and is operated to form waves in the water of the bed. The actuating pad is connected via a vertical shaft to a suitably actuatable mechanical gear motor, which tends to be very noisy and disturbing to the user. Futhermore, the mattress engaging pad, being horizontal, is subject to strong lateral forces from the waves formed at the top of the mattress. These buffetting forces may tend to weaken or distort the said pad and vertical shaft over a period of time. In addition, although the said '126 patent indicates that solenoids could replace the controller which operates the gear motor, there is no suggestion as to how this could be accomplished. The quiet feature of properly controlled solenoids would of course be an advantage.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of noise, vertical shaft distortion and proper control of the wave generating device.
In accordance with the various aspects of the invention, a solenoid is mounted at one end of the water bed (head or foot), and its output shaft and mattress engaging pad or pusher plate are disposed at an angle so that the pad forms an acute angle with the horizontal. The pad is thus engaged by oncoming waves from the remote end of the bed in a more facing type direction, which lessens the lateral stresses on the said output shaft. The solenoid unit itself is mounted for generally vertical adjustment on a bracket secured to the respective end of the bed frame.
In addition, the solenoid is actuated by a control device which provides a generally square electrical wave control signal and which utilizes independent variable TIME ON and TIME OFF modes providing maximum flexibility of solenoid operation.